Croatia's economic sentiment reached 114.7 points in September 2019, mainly thanks to improved confidence in the services and retail sectors. At the same time, the sentiment worsened in the EU and the euro zone, the European Commissions said in their monthly report released on Friday.

Croatia’s Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in September is four points higher than the indicator for July, and stands at 114.7 points. In August it had dropped by 1.7 points.

Expectations in September grew the most in the services sector, by 8.1 points to 24.9 points. The services sector was followed by the retail trade sector, where confidence grew by eight points to 11.6 points.

More optimistic were also business people in the industry sector, as evidenced by an increase of confidence of 3.1 points to 8.2 points.

Consumer confidence improved slightly less than in July, going up 1.1 points to minus 3.4 points.

The construction sector was the exception, where confidence fell by 4.8 points to 15.8 points.

At the EU level, the ESI dropped by 1.4 points to a long-term average of 100 points. It thus continued a downward trend that started in June, shows the EC report.

The decline was mostly due to a drop in confidence in the industry and construction sectors, of 3.5 and 3 points respectively.

The ESI in the euro area was down by 1.4 points in September to 101.7 points. In August it rose 0.4 points.

The decline was mostly due to a major decline in business confidence in the industry sector, which dropped by three points.